is this ich?

[courtanee]

I've never had ich in all my years of fish keeping. I just noticed an hour ago this Cory with a white spot on his head. Can anyone tell me what this is?
No other fish have any white spots.
All have healthy appetites and are swimming normal.
Could it maybe be a scrape?
Any ideas or opinions are appreciated. I dont want to go treating him willy nilly for who knows what.

 

[SKB]

im not really sure from the picture. it kind of does look like it, but as a description, ich looks like salt. Is he/she rubbing/flashing?

 

[courtanee]

im not really sure from the picture. it kind of does look like it, but as a description, ich looks like salt. Is he/she rubbing/flashing?

That one reason I'm not sure if it is... It isn't all over and it is a larger spot than a salt granule . no rubbing or flashing either. I have driftwood, maybe its a scrape? Or something easier to deal with(hopefully) I'm thinking of starting salt and temp increase to 81°

 

[courtanee]

Here's a zoomed in cropped picture

 

[courtanee]

Here's a zoomed in cropped picture

He also still has all his barbels so I'm guessing he isn't too sick

 

[SKB]

that's a better picture, thank you. I don't see anything wrong. Cory's usually aren't too fond of salt. Heat alone increases the ich life cycle, so you could do this, just as a safety precaution. Don't turn it up all at once. I would say a few degrees every few hours. When I treated ich I had it up to 84 at one point, but go to 80 and see how they react. If they act listless or tired or breath hard, don't go any higher and possibly decrease. When you increase temp, there is less oxygen in the water, so lower the water level so the filter adds more air, or add a bubbler.

Usually, they've said don't treat it if you don't see it. So if you really feel like you should do something, just do heat. Even that alone, if turned higher than their liking, could stress them more and then it could maybe in turn really get an infection/parasite. So if you see no signs really, and he is acting normal, I would just keep the tank as clean as possible and monitor the parameters. Hope this helps!

 

[courtanee]

Thank you! That's good advice, I have an air stone going right now and I'm going to bump the heat a little and keep an eye on him.

 

[SKB]

Let us know if you need anything further!